Defensive Gesture: Stomp To The Beat

September 2nd, 2006 at 08:43pm TheFurryOne

It’s been far more than a little unusual looking at Grey’s posts and wondering, “Wow, does he really think that about us arrow stompers?” In reality, I suppose he’s right. The question should rather be phrased, “Do we really look that freaking stupid so as to cause the rest of the world to think we’re all socially inept?” Of course, different people will have different tolerances for looking stupid in public, and thank the Maker for that; without that egregious imbalance in the shame receptors of some folks, we’d never have “Girls Gone Wild Vol. Eleventy-Billion”.

That said, I think he hit the nail on the head with this: “I can now admit that it does have some appeal as a social game.” I’ve been playing DDR quasi-seriously for about three years now; with a significant amount of that time being spent as part of a regional group, the now-disbanded DDR Erie. The group was comprised of late high-school to early/mid college-age people, all reasonably skilled at the game. When I joined up, I’d only had about maybe two or three months of off-and-on exposure to the game (read: one day on, four days off while my legs were in excruciating pain). When the group dissolved last year, I was at a six-to-seven foot play level (standard difficulty), and I’ve recently jumped up to low eight-foot songs on heavy difficulty. There’s a solid skill progression involved, and with a group of like-minded folks who don’t mind you looking relatively silly, it’s an excellent way to pass time and get exercise.

That brings me to Grey’s remark about losing weight. He dropped all of about two pounds over thirty days– hardly a variation that he or I could consider proof that he lost any weight at all. But, the problem may not be traced to DDR specifically– I’d have to say it was his diet as well. DDR is not that dissimilar from a step-aerobics regimen, as quite frankly you’re still doing basically the same motion with your legs, just at varying tempos and directions. As a result it can help a player burn through a significant portion of his or her activity requirements for a day. However, it’s not enough. Most of the “lost xx pounds” stories on sites like Get Up Move (which is a thinly-veiled advertisement for RedOctane, who makes the DDR clone In The Groove) neglect to mention or downplay the significance of dietary changes in the weight loss. As a personal anecdote, let’s look at my case. As I said, I’ve played semi-regularly for about three years now. During the first two years my diet did not change, and my weight actually increased. Since January of this year, I changed my eating habits and maintained a similar regimen of activity (including DDR); by May I had lost forty pounds. The strangest part was that I actually played DDR less often between January and May due to life interference than I had during the previous two years. So while the DDR-weight-loss stories may not be all hype, they’re still mostly hype.

Ultimately, it is all about a particular mindset that seems to be a bit odd, even among the hardcore gamers. The driving force which keeps arrow-stompers, well, stomping arrows, is the drive to get higher scores and to get better. The coveted AAA (no mistakes at all, all arrows stepped on with “Perfect” or “Marvelous” accuracy and all helds held) is a hallmark of a player’s ability. It means as much to a non-gamer as a .700 lifetime batting average does to someone who doesn’t follow baseball, or a 90% lifetime pass-completion rate does to someone who doesn’t follow American football. Within the circle, it’s a legend. Outside of the circle, it’s meaningless, and admittedly “pathetic awesome”, as had been said. But the competition within the circle drives players to these scores.

I wish, actually, that Grey had had the opportunity to go to a DDR tournament during the trial. I’ve participated in a few, and it’s really at these gatherings that you get a sense of the strength of the community. At one of these events, someone made note that a DDR tournament has a much different atmosphere than, say, a Tekken tournament. To cite his example, the players at the Tekken event were loud, belligerent, even downright mean to each other; shouting obscenities, pushing, even a fistfight at one point. This was a cut-throat match, and there wasn’t even any more than about $50 on the line. This was in contrast to the DDR tournament that we were in the midst of; players cheered each other on, clapped after every match (no matter how good or bad the players were– which was a lucky thing for me at the time), and there was an atmosphere of excellent sportsmanship. Heck, nobody even used any profanity. The top prize was a $300 metal dance controller.

I can’t say with any certainty that the experience is universal. In fact, it may have been isolated to the Pittsburgh region; I haven’t had that much contact with the Cleveland DDR scene, but most of it has been kind of aloof and somewhat antagonistic. Still, it’s what I’ve experienced, and based on other accounts I’ve heard from the US and the world over, I’m not alone in feeling this sense of friendly rivalry.

So, ultimately, while I am a little sad to know that the dance-game craze couldn’t attract one more convert, I am glad to know that Grey gave it a fair shot. Though in all honesty, there was a distinct lack of crotch-grabbing in that video, so his commitment to feeling the groove (to say nothing of his goods) is somewhat suspect at best. Meh, no matter. He has tasted the sweet pain that is Paranoia Survivor; he’ll be back.

Entry Filed under: StepMania